Sucker fishing

[tender52]

Hi all. Me and some guys at work were talking about the up coming ice season.

One buddy asks should we go try and sucker fish for bait later on. We are very familiar with the regulations and stuff and wont be transporting live or transferring from location to another.

That said, none of us have never targeted that species. So our big question for the all knowing members here is, would it be worth our while this time of year to try and catch some? plus we don't have a clue as what bait to use.

We all recounted the days of fishing with corn as kids but that's as close as we came to a bait decision. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Colin

[PUMP KNOWS]

Worms fished on the bottom of a river or creek this time of year should produce some suckers.

[Gallie]

Personally i only fish suckers in the spring when they run the river, i get what i need for the year including the winter and throw it in the freezer( usually a couple suckers go a long way)

I have tried to find info in the past on locating them later in the year without much success.

As far as i know they spread out around the lake and can literally be anywhere so they can be tough to pattern. Honesty if anyone else knows how to locate them this time of year im all ears id love to know.

When i do fish them i just use worms a circle hook and a slip or bell sinker depending on current, i can catch tonnes in the spring on the holland.

[creditmaster]

try a dropshot style with worms or corn . It produces on the river at least

[mike rousseau]

Tons of em schooled up on the st lawrence... Easy to find... Never tried catching them tho....

[LostAnotherOne]

Just a whole worm and a couple of split shots. Let it just sit at the bottom and wait. There everywhere on the Grand. My wife and I head out at least once a week to the grand to get some action. She loves it.

Edited November 11, 2015 by LostAnotherOne

[OhioFisherman]

I used to fish for my own bait all the time here, and in Ontario when it was legal for us foreigners. Unless you live near a lake here with a muskie or big cat population it is hard to find big bait fish in bait stores, even the golden shiners some bait stores here sell as bass minnows seem to be on the small side for bigger bass.

 

A lot of our streams have a resident year round sucker population, I assume it is the same in Ontario?

 

Take a small hook, size 12 - 16 was my choice, flatten the barb with a pair of needle nose pliers to make hook removal easier, it helps to keep them alive. Light line, it can be hard to get anything over 6# test thru some of the eyes on those small hooks, and you really don't need anything stronger.

 

A small piece of worm and a split shot, a small slip float and let it drift thru the pools. Suckers have their mouths on the bottom of their face, so keeping the bait near the bottom or drifting across it works best for them, big chubs are more apt to take it if it is off the bottom.

 

That said? I have had much better like with big chubs and big silver shiners I have caught, suckers work well in lake Erie for walleye, but not much else, it probably has to do with the walleye spawn and sucker spawn being so close together here.

 

Pike fishing? any of them should work OK, especially dead.

[Gallie]

I find suckers work well whole for pike or in chunks for any predator fish, suckers also tend to stay alive longer on the hook than chub do and tend to keep moving longer as well.

Small streams do seem like the place to go as any river that runs into a lake seem to be void of suckers after the run minus 1 here and there.

I m probably going to scope out a few new spots myself.

[tender52]

Much appreciated. Me and the boys are gonna try it on Sunday. It looks like the only dry day to be out. Yes we leave the dead baits for pike starting with one hole in 40ft range one in 30 then 20 and adjust accordingly, and fish for perch with the pinheads. I usually see what i believe might be suckers over the bridge when we hit the inlaws come spring time, gonna start there or look deeper? ie mud flats???